Midnight
by Nails For Your Crucifix
Summary: Death holds a Halloween party and EVERYONE is invited. An angsty look at the end of everything. I told you it would be finished before Halloween! Please R


Death doesn't belong to me and neither to any of the Endless. The kitty, Casper, doesn't belong to me either. He used to belong to a friend. Rest in peace. And yes, Casper was a black cat.

Death hosts a Halloween party and EVERYONE is invited. A little bit of an angst story at the end of everything.

****

Midnight

Death slid down the banister into her ever-changing living room. Her house usually didn't have two stories but she rarely ever held parties. She was carrying a large cardboard box with the words "Halloween Decorations" on the side and a bag between her teeth containing something that might have been, at one point or another, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. After she threw the might-have-been-sandwich away, she began packing up her teddy bears, coats, hats, and furniture and stuffing them all into her concealed hall closet. After all, they really didn't fit with the current decoration of her house. She was wearing blue jeans, a baseball cap that kept her unruly hair away from her face and a baggy Yale sweatshirt when she began to scoop the insides out of about five pumpkins. After that, she stood on one of the evolving chairs and began hanging up the spider webs and iron chandeliers form the ceilings. Stone gargoyles grew out of the doorframes, the bookcases climbed up the walls like ivy up a garden trellis and the stairs turned into black marble, with intricate filigree banisters. Dusty windows became eyes to the now barren landscape, accept for a forest of leafless trees, and the double-doors were wood with intricate knockers that creaked when they opened. Her boots echoed on the marble floor as she walked over to the apothecary table in what used to be her living room. It was now a gothic chamber with high ceilings, bookshelves and large, red, high-back chairs facing a crackling fireplace. She dug through the cardboard box until she found a large assortment of skulls, rusted iron shackles and candles. She placed them around the house, knowing they would cast spooky shadows when the lights were out, and lit the hallways with flaming torches. It looked different, that was certain. But it was Halloween, and everyone was attending.

The large wooden double-doors opened with a creak as the grandfather clock struck 8 o'clock. In another hour they would all be arriving. A small black cat with tawny amber eyes entered and brushed against her leg affectionately.

"Casper, what are you doing here?" she asked as she scooped the small creature into her arms, not even bothering to look at the tag around it's neck. "The party doesn't start for another hour, but thank you for coming."

She took the Jack-o-Lanterns outside one at a time, making sure not to let the cat leave her arms. The wind struck her with a great force. It held the normal chill of autumn, melancholy days, lonely evenings and bittersweet memories. She walked to the front gate, listening to the stairs creak underneath her feet. The house looked so depressing. It had a tower and a wraparound porch and she could not help thinking that it seemed like something from Poe or the Adams Family. She held Casper against her chest, stroking his head slowly as she walked back into her house. It would be the last day that she ever saw him or anyone like him. It would be the last day that she saw anyone at all. A tear trickled down her cheek and fell in one crystal drop on the marble floor. At least it would all end on a high note.

The world had been slowing down for some time and today would be the last of it, Death though, as she pulled off her sweatshirt and slipped on a black cowl. She had known since, forever, that this would be the last of it, but she could not help feeling a bit sad. It had been going on for so long and now, it was ending. 'It might be nice to lay down my burden,' she though, smiling, as she touched the ankh that glittered against the black cassock. 'It might be nice to lay it all to rest.' She began digging through her closet, trying to find something that would complete her costume when she saw something, covered with dust in the very back. 

"A scythe, Casper," she chuckled, taking it gently from it's resting place in the closet. She had forced a smile on her lips, as she continued with, "it's all I need." Casper stared at her lovingly, knowing that she was upset about tonight and somehow, knowing why.

She looked out the window into the forest of skeleton trees as she wiped the dust from her scythe. She saw a group of six very familiar figures emerging from the forest and walking up the creaking steps as the clock struck 9 o'clock. They were always punctual. She knew them all even though she sometimes didn't want to. The one at the front of the line was tall with broad shoulders and red hair. He seemed good-natured, even on this occasion. Behind him were the twins, holding the hand of the other because it only seemed fitting. The young girl who was skipping joyfully like she had no idea what was happening followed them. She had a large brown leather jacket and a trail of lime green fish that died as she drew ever closer to her sister's house. At the end of the line were her two other brothers. One was dressed in white with a very solemn expression and eyes that conveyed the wisdom of his countless years. The other had a brown cassock and looked like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, even though the only weight was the tome he wore on his wrist. Today he would read aloud the last sentence on the last page and it would be all over. But they had all known this since the pages of the book traced their being out of nothingness.

They banged on the door sharply three times before she answered it. "I always thought that you would be coming through the gallery," she said smiling as she wrapped her arms around Destruction's neck and stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"We were going to," Dream answered quietly, "but it seemed only fitting that we enter your house through the front door tonight."

"Why am I the only one dressed up?" she asked when she saw that they were in their usual dress, even on Halloween which, if they were going anywhere else if it was not the end of everything, would have been perfectly acceptable.

"I do not indulge myself in such activities as 'Costume Parties'" Dream said with a smile and a very patronizing tone to his voice.

"Spoil sport," she said pouting and sticking out her tongue as she opened the door ushering them in. The cat came up to them and Dream bent down, picking Casper up and walking over to the fire. They did not speak. They did not seem to have a need for words on this night. Everyone knew what everyone else was thinking about. They were thinking about tonight, the night they had known was going to happen but everyone had tried to tell themselves that it wasn't happening. The only one that didn't do this was Destiny. He had known since the first line of his book traced his being before the words were ever spoken aloud and the bastard just didn't give a damn about any of it. He wasn't supposed to. He didn't have the responsibility of choosing any of the paths in his mysterious labyrinth of a garden. On the other hand, Death thought about this day more than any of her siblings. She knew that she would take them all and lock up the universe as she left. Taking them would be the most painful part of her job. So she did not speak to them, for it would only make it more difficult. Everyone just sat in quiet reflection over his or her or its existence. They searched the library of shelves in her study and watched the flames crackle and the sun set behind the skeleton forest. Dream stroked the small black cat affectionately, though it did not seem to mind.

Then, the rest began to gather.

There were only about a thousand of them. Everything had kind of been slowing down for the past century or so and now was the last of it. They came up the creaky steps, through the front door to her waiting arms. She knew them all, for she had met them countless times before, and this was a final good-bye. They didn't stay long. All Death could think about was how much they looked like a group of puppets, each blindly following the other though no one knew exactly where the other was going. It was actually more like sheep. Casper seemed to struggle and even though they tried to keep him with them, he still managed to escape. They seemed to march up the stairs to the sound of some unheard music, the last inhabitants of the universe. They made their way to the end of the candle-lit hallway, followed by the little black cat, at which point, they turned the corner and the last flame was extinguished.

"Well," Death said quietly, picking up her scythe and drawing the cowl away from her face, "let's get started." She raised the scythe above her head and made a tear in the doorway. Instead of leaving her house behind for the barren landscape of skeleton trees, she found herself in the void, the nothingness at the end of everything. And then they waited to receive her last embrace and gift of death. Destruction was the first to leave them followed by Desire and Despair, together, for the last time. Delirium stepped into her waiting arms with a large smile. Both eyes were blue and they held the wisdom and sanity that no one ever saw in her. She understood and had always done so. Death did not have the strength to watch her.

Dream walked slowly to her side and placed a steady hand on her shoulder. "Turn around sister," he said softly. "Please"

"Go away," she began in a shuddering voice. "Please don't make me do this," she asked wiping the tears away from her face. "Don't ask me to do this."

"I am not asking you to do this," he scolded his elder sister, as if she was a small child. "We both know that this is what we need to do. I am asking you to turn around and make it easier on both of us." He placed his hands on her shoulders and he felt her shiver. 

Destiny, cloaked in his veil of mystery, saw their entire spectacle. He continued to watch them, but, at the same time, reading about it in the final pages of his book.

**__**

"They were standing together, in the void at the end of everything. She looked like a small child, helpless and frightened. He was her savior, the one that she turned to in times like this, but now he would leave her for the last time. 

'I hate you sometimes,' she said, wrapping her arms around his neck but still managing to force a smile on her face. Her tears had begun to soak into his cloak as she ran her fingers through his unruly hair. 'I hate the fact that you can always make me feel better and that you are always right.'

'Except when I'm wrong,' he finished for her as he wiped the tears from her cheek, bending down to kiss her. 'I'll miss you.'

'I'll miss you too,' she said in a shuddering voice as she kissed him again. She kissed him fully, passionately, in a way that is not customary for a sister to kiss her brother. And in that brief flash, both of their troubles disappeared.

And then, she took his hand in hers and looked away as he disappeared from her side leaving only a fading memory of a world and a love that once was. As she did this, Destiny looked up from his book and slowly walked to his sister's side."

As she did this, Destiny looked up from his book and slowly walked to his sister's side. 

"It shall be a relief to finally lay down my burden sister," he said quietly as she wiped the last of her tears away.

"Sure. Whatever," she interjected as she held her ankh gingerly.
    
    Then she took his hand and he was gone just like all the others. She did not need to look away.

**__**

Slowly, she took off her ankh and drew a large white door with a brass knocker. She opened it and set one foot inside. "What a waste," she uttered as she dropped her ankh and waited for it to hit the floor. Suddenly, she remembered that there was no longer a floor for it to fall to. It would continue to fall through the void until she, or someone like her picked it up again. "Maybe there are second chances in life, or, whatever you want to call it," she thought to herself. "But, maybe I've had too many second chances." She stepped through the door and there was the small click of a lock and the sound of a key falling to the ground that was no longer there. She sighed, and that was all, as the last embers in the fire died and the grandfather clock struck midnight.

The End

Fin
    
    Well, what did you think?


End file.
